Planning an addition, garage or new house? We dig, form and pour the footings from your drawings, so they match what the plans call for.
Concrete footings in Lake Charles are the strips and pads of concrete that carry a building's weight into the ground, along the outside walls and under the inside, and we lay them out, dig, form and pour them to the depth, width and steel your building plans show.
You've probably got a set of drawings for an addition, a garage or a new house, and the footings are the first thing that has to go right, because everything else sits on them. The price moves with how many feet of footing the plans call for, how wide and deep each one is, how much steel goes in and how easy the ground is to dig. The schedule turns on the permit, any soil testing your designer wants and the weather on pour day. I measure and write up what's included at the estimate, so you know your own number before you decide.
I come out to look at your lot and your plans and write the estimate myself. Our own crew does the work, and I'm on site while it's going on, so the person who priced the job is the one answering your questions at the trench.
We're licensed and fully insured. That matters on a footing job, because there's a trench open, a concrete truck backing in and a crew working close to your house, and you shouldn't be the one carrying the risk if something goes wrong.
I learned concrete on bare lots in new subdivisions, then started this business in 2021 to work at homes people live in. We settle who hauls the dirt and where you'll park before we start. Call (337) 549-5674 when you're ready.
Send your address and, if you have them, your building plans and any soil test results, and we'll reply within one business day to set a time. I come out, measure and write up what's included before you decide, and the estimate is free with no pressure to book.
In Lake Charles, the city's Permit Center issues building permits, and it also licenses construction trades, including building contractors. New construction in the city has to sit at a minimum floor height, one foot above the highest of four flood measurements the city lists, and since that height shapes the foundation, it's worth confirming with your designer before the footings go in. Before work starts, we check with the city or parish office that covers your address, and when a permit's needed, we handle the paperwork or walk you through it.
Most of our calls come from homeowners in Lake Charles and the cities around it, plus a few small businesses, and footing work usually means an addition, a garage or a shop going up behind a house the family is still living in. We do the same work in Sulphur and Moss Bluff, and over the line in Orange, TX. Lots here can stay soft for days after a heavy rain, so we watch the ground as well as the forecast before we set a dig date. If your city isn't listed on the site, ask us.
Installed concrete footings across the US usually run about $4 to $20 per linear foot, a price that covers the concrete, labor, digging, rebar and the contractor's margin, and it climbs with the size of the footing. A labor-only rate covers just the layout, forming and pouring, so it runs several times lower, which is why you should ask what each per-foot number includes before comparing quotes. For your own number, call (337) 549-5674 or send the form.
Usually, yes. Calcasieu Parish strongly recommends asking a geotechnical engineer, a soils specialist, about testing and a structural engineer or architect about the foundation design, because south Louisiana soils can cause settlement. Research on expansive soils, the kind that swell when wet and shrink when dry, found property losses concentrated in southeastern and extreme southwestern Louisiana. If you already have test results, have them ready when I come out.
A licensed Residential Building Contractor. The state licensing board requires any residential project with structural work to be bid and built by one, and its rules bar a home improvement contractor from structural work such as footings and foundations. Ask every bidder which license they hold before you compare prices.
The city reviews plans showing where every footing goes and how big each one is before it issues a building permit. Those plans also show special footings, such as the ones under a fireplace, and give the name, address and phone number of the person who designed them, so you know whom to ask about a footing detail.
Plan the pour around wind and sun as well as the temperature, because hot-weather guidance for concrete calls for stricter precautions on a windy, sunny day than on a calm, humid one at the same heat. The same guidance warns that adding water to hot concrete to keep it workable can lower its strength. We'd rather start early than pour in the midday sun, and we don't water the mix down at the truck to make it easier to place.
As short a time as you can manage. Guidance on foundations in expansive soils says the dig should reach design depth as quickly as possible and be protected from drying, since that kind of soil changes as it dries out. We plan the dig so the forms, steel and truck follow close behind instead of leaving a trench sitting open.
